RootsChat.Com
Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Free Photo Restoration & Date Old Photographs => Topic started by: Chloe1989 on Saturday 25 September 10 16:34 BST (UK)
-
Could anyone suggest what sort of date this photograph may have been taken? Would be quite nice to see a coloured version aswell if possible! Thank you!
-
1870's & probably late as this is when the chignon moved from on top of the head to the back.
As cardstock styles changed it's best to show all of what you have & in colour & the back as this gives us a better chance to give an accurate date,so can we see what you're looking at.
jim
-
Is this what you meant Jim, one in colour? ::)
Bill. ;)
-
No Bill.Like the frock all the same.
jim
-
Thanks Jim....I'm wearing it tonight. ;D
Bill.
-
Lovely! Well the back is completely plain and the card is quite thick, about 0.1mm. Sorry not sure what you mean by in colour! It pretty much is as it looks on screen...has sort of a purple tint to it! Thank you for your help
Chloe
-
Hi Clohe......Heres my colour interpretation.
Carolyn :)
-
One from me,
Ivor
-
Thank you very much! They're all great!!
-
Hi Chloe :)
What you have is, I think, a Chromotype - does it have a glossy coating? This was a relatively short-lived process that was used only between about 1876 and 1883, so Jim's date estimate is (as usual!) spot on. There's a tiny bit of info about Chromotypes here:
http://freepages.nostalgia.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pruesfamily/Other.html
Cheers
Prue
-
Thank you for the link! Well on the bottom of it, it says "permanent photograph printed in carbon" so is a carbon print?! It does seem kind of glossy in a way though! It has a purple tinge, which is different from the others which are sepia coloured.
Chloe
-
There are two possibilities - it's either a plain carbon print without a coating, or it's a carbon print with a glossy coating of collodion. If the former, then it's just called a carbon print, but if it's the latter, it is a chromotype. I think it's more probably the latter, even if it doesn't look particularly glossy (plain carbon prints are VERY matte!) just because this is a technique I know was used for personal photographs, whereas carbon prints were more usually used for reproducing photos of celebrities, art prints etc.
Chromotypes also always seem to have this thing where the frame of the photo, and the text underneath, looks like it's part of the photo...hope you understand what I'm trying to say here!
Carbon prints could be a variety of tones, and the colour is relatively permanent. Your is actually probably the colour that most "sepia" toned 19th century photos were to start with! Albumen prints (which most of them are) fade and yellow very rapidly.
Cheers
Prue
-
Ah right. So probably a purple toned chromotype then! I don't think I've heard of them before, are they rarer than the other cdv types (don't know the names!)?
Thank you for your help!
Chloe
-
Hi Chloe,
They're relatively uncommon in the world of CDVs - most CDVs are albumen prints. The chromotype was only around for a few years, whereas albumen prints were used for about 40. Not only were chromotypes difficult to produce, but they were also expensive, which is probably why they didn't last, even though the picture is of better quality.
Cheers
Prue
-
Okay, looks like Amy was lucky to have one of these taken then! Oliver Sarony, the photographer, died in 1879 so the dates you gave would fit, probably about 1878ish.
Chloe